French actor Gerard Depardieu claims to have eaten lions during a recent trip to Africa, telling The Independent magazine that he went one step farther than killing the animals in self-defense, as he told news media earlier.

In September, Depardieu told the French magazine So Film the story about the lions,

"I killed two lions once, and I understand why the lion is the king of the jungle," he said. "In legitimate self-defense. Imagine you're driving and your engine breaks down."

"You got out, and in your way are these animals. So you shoot, just to scare them," he continued. "They don't move. I wasn't there for hunting. I was in Africa for Africa."

He expanded on that story for The Independent which reported that Depardieu said he also ate the lions after shooting them.

"We broke down on a track in the bush, in Burkina Faso," said Depardieu. "The two lions waited in front of us and wouldn't move. Hours passed, and we couldn't get out of the car, the African driver was very afraid. We had no choice; we had to shoot them."

According to The Daily Mail, Depardieu was granted Russian citizenship in 2013 after he left France to protest the country's 75 per cent tax on the very rich. The actor, who was nominated for a lead actor Oscar in 1991 for "Cyrano de Bergerac," mainly lives in Russia and Belgium.

The world's lion population has been cut in half over the past two decades, according to conservation groups like Born Free USA and wildlife organizations in 2013 began pushing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to include lions to its endangered species list, reported National Public Radio.

NPR reported last year that lion meat has become more popular in the United States as an "ethical alternative" to factory-farmed animals if the lions come from American circus and zoos that were killing the animals because of old age, according to Curtis Calleo, cofounder of the eating club The Gastronauts.

NPR noted that The Gastronauts hosted a lion meat dinner in New York in 2013.

French actor Gerard Depardieu claims to have eaten lions during a recent trip to Africa, telling The Independent magazine that he went one step farther than killing the animals in self-defense, as he told news media earlier.